An ion trap can use a combination of electrical and magnetic fields to trap (e.g., capture) an ion (e.g., a positively or negatively charged atom or molecule). When an ion trapped in an ion trap is illuminated by a laser (e.g. when a laser beam is focused onto the ion in the trap), the ion may fluoresce light or perform a quantum operation. The light fluoresced from the ion can be detected by a detector.
Multiple ion traps can be formed on a chip (e.g., die). However, in previous approaches, each additional ion trap (e.g., each additional trapped ion) may necessitate additional structure (e.g., hardware) and/or space, including, for instance, additional lasers. For example, in previous approaches there may be a linear (e.g., one-to-one) relationship between the number of ions and the number of lasers (e.g., each additional ion may necessitate an additional laser).
Further, previous approaches may not be able to achieve single ion addressing or detecting. That is, previous approaches may not be able to individually address multiple ions such that the light fluoresced from only a single ion at a time can be detected by the detector.